BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – After falling to a league-high 16th defeat of the season on Saturday night Designated Player David Accam admitted the Chicago Fire need “more help” if they are to re-establish themselves as playoff contenders.
The Fire (7-16-6, 27 points) appeared to be on the verge of a seventh tie of the season. But Orlando City SC had other ideas as substitute Bryan Rochez scored in the 86th minute to steal all three points and ensure that the Fire remain rooted to the foot of the Eastern Conference table.
Accam, who has been one of few bright spots for the Fire this season, had a relatively unproductive night despite occasionally causing the visiting defense problems with his pace and trickery. However, given the nature of this latest defeat, the Ghanaian agreed that quality reinforcements may be needed if Frank Yallop’s side is to recapture former glories.
“I think that question is for the coach, but obviously we need more help,” Accam told reporters when asked if the roster was good enough to mount a playoff run next season. “We keep getting the same results, every game -- even though we play well, we don’t get a positive result. So maybe we need help.”
Yallop declined to discuss the need for roster changes at his postgame press conference.
“Talking about the roster for next year, right now is not the time to do it,” said the Fire boss.
He did stand by his players and praised their efforts on a night when they had 14 shots to Orlando’s eight, and enjoyed some decent spells of possession and pressure without making an impact on the scoreboard.
“I can’t fault the guys for effort, at all, and I won’t do that,” Yallop said. “They gave everything they had but just couldn’t get it done tonight. I thought we played well enough to get something out of the match, if not a win, at least a tie. It’s just frustrating.
“I feel really bad for the guys. We work really hard, we do the things that we feel as a group are good enough to get more points on the table than we’re getting. It’s very frustrating right now. We seem to find every opportunity to give goals up.”
The Fire won’t have long to dwell on the frustration of this latest reversal, their seventh home defeat of the season (tied for most in the league), as they travel to Canada to face the Montreal Impact on Wednesday.
“Of course everyone is down. It’s difficult, but the best thing is you have a game in two or three days, so we have to keep ourselves up and go again on Wednesday,” Accam added.
